Pokemon TCG player allegedly suspended for calling out harassment

One Pokemon TCG player was allegedly suspended for their post calling out an alleged harrassment that took place during the Baltimore Regional Championships.

When you’re competing against other players in a Pokemon tournament, things can go wrong from time to time. For TCG player Ihana Mazezka, however, they ended up getting suspended after calling out their opponent for alleged harassment, continuing to misgender them even after the head judge had corrected him multiple times.

On September 19, 2024, Ihana spoke up about their “upsetting experience” with opponent Steven Lahlou during the Baltimore Regionals via a post on X. They claimed that Steven had misgendered them when he was calling a judge to correct a mistake.

“When the judge sent the Head Judge over, and my opponent finished explaining, I showed [Head Judge] my pin since I didn’t feel comfortable correcting Steven in this situation,” they explained.

The Head Judge then corrected him regarding Ihana’s pronouns. Though despite that being the case, he kept using the wrong pronouns to the point the Head Judge had corrected him “every time for the 6-7 instances” as he kept talking through the situation.

In addition to this, they mentioned that Steven had told the Head Judge they were “a she” – as if “to mock the situation.” Even when the match was concluded as a tie, he went on to mock the pronoun part of the situation when he went to his friends, according to Ihana’s partner.

Following this experience, Ihana reported that the Head Judge said they would submit a support ticket for them and suggested they do the same. They also mentioned that the Tournament Organizer had “apologized profusely.”

At the end of the day, in the comments, they hoped “something bigger can change” so this doesn’t happen again.

Now, just a few weeks later, a user on X has given an update on the situation. According to their post, Ihana has apparently been suspended by TCPI for their post calling out the alleged harassment. And already, many users in the comments were outraged seeing this situation.

“This is absolutely f***ing gross; anyone and everyone should be submitting a support ticket in support of Ihana,” one person wrote.

“Absolutely absurd,” another one said. “I’m sorry this happened and it’s horrible that informing the public of sh***y people is a suspension worthy offense.”

Many were also baffled and hoped this decision would be reconsidered following Ihana’s situation.